to the state’s two-year transportation budget bill that would kill a long-planned bike lane project on Superior Avenue in Cleveland drew sharp opposition this week from elected officials, city planners, and business leaders in Cleveland and the Cincinnati area.
News of Patton’s amendment, which surfaced Monday, sparked a strong and immediate reaction in Cleveland. Cincinnati officials said the amendment would also threaten future projects in their region. In written testimony submitted to the House Finance Committee ahead of its meeting Wednesday, where the amendment was discussed, Cleveland officials raised multiple objections to Patton’s proposed amendment.Beyond questions of design, they saw Patton’s language as an intrusion of state authority into local city planning that would undermine home rule — the right of municipalities under the state constitution to exercise self-government.
The Downtown Cleveland Alliance, Destination Cleveland, and the Greater Cleveland Partnership, the region’s chamber of commerce, submitted a letter to the Finance Committee stating that Patton’s amendment would “inhibit local government’s ability to legislate on behalf of the will of voters’' who have shown strong support for multi-modal transportation projects, including “protected bicycle lanes.
Stadler said in an interview that the Midway design follows all federal and state design guidelines for such projects. She also said the center-lane design would prevent “right hook” crashes in which cars making right turns at intersections strike bicyclists riding in the right lane.
Surprise, surprise — another Dumpublican trying to screw over an urban effort.